You are here

ChiefOfficers.Net

When we launched PleaseBeInformed.com, one of our fundamental principles of design was that only those who we had taken reasonable steps to identify and verify would be permitted to post, even to comment. That decision was at the heart of our plan to charge a small annual membership fee, paid by credit card. While American-based social media networks spread across the world with more and more fraudulent accounts, China, it is reported, is taking steps to combat the use of social media for financial and "news" fraud, for that is what fake news and scurrilous social media comment is, at their heart.

My grandmother, who worked in a police station, used to say "you know when you are getting old when policemen look young." It's strange to realise that many of today's senior people in offices have never known a world without the internet or a phone in their pocket.

On several occasions recently, our filters have picked up e-mail from a company promoting itself as "5mins" and, as is common, offering directory services. But this one is a little different. No matter what, the target is in a lose-lose situation, which is odd because on so many levels, the mail appears to be acting both properly and legally. But there is just enough that isn't right to raise suspicions - and the UK's Information Commissioner's Office, which is responsible for the implementation of the new GPDR regime and is already having a hard time handling the scaremongering that's almost as bad as Y2K.

Years ago, there was a cliché phrase that seemed to be repeated far too much: "a little knowledge is a dangerous thing." We need to relearn this for the benefit of society as a whole and for business in particular as comment-lite and narrow opinion is promoted as the norm across the whole spectrum of media.

The scandal over contaminated eggs originating in the Netherlands raises a serious question about one of the fundamental principles of the EU: the free movement of goods. Without taking sides one way or the other, we point out why this issue may be about eggs, but its ramifications are about something far more.

The proof of Al Jazeera's mission to produce and broadcast material containing truths that many would prefer to keep secret is in the fact that it has become the poster-boy for the motto "you know you are doing something right when everyone hates you." As more and more pressure is brought to bear on a news network that is, today, a beacon of balanced reporting, even more than the now frequently partisan BBC, Al Jazeera finds itself the bit of news that produced an unguarded admission: Israel is working towards becoming a regional power by political collusion with several Arab states. It's a back-door assault on the GCC and, through...

"The largest marketplace on the Darknet—where hundreds of thousands of criminals anonymously bought and sold drugs, weapons, hacking tools, stolen identities, and a host of other illegal goods and services—has been shut down as a result of one the most sophisticated and coordinated efforts to date on the part of law enforcement across the globe." So says the USA's FBI. And it is seriously impressive. But, quietly, another investigation, led by Dutch authorities, has done far more damage to the deep web than closing down Alphabay.

It used to be that a video that got a few thousand views was a bit of an internet sensation. But Google's YouTube, which the company bought after it ran into difficulty paying for its bandwidth, has mutated way beyond those early days. Now, a million views is hardly worth mentioning - and what is fascinating is that some of the really big numbers are not for the stars you hear on the radio.

Recently, airbnb angered both "hosts" and "guests" by its decision to prevent the making or rejection of bookings on e.g. religious grounds. Then it started to upset "hosts" by delisting properties based on apparently arbitrary criteria. Next, it decided that, in some cities, it would not accept bookings for a property for more than 90 days each year. And within the past few days, a woman has been fined in California because airbnb has entered into an agreement with a California state department. All of this is in addition to long and complex agreements between "hosts" and "guests." The big question is ... how much control is so much...